February 18, 2016

• Paintings and drawings by Charlotte Bronte, the first of famous “little books” she ever made, and a pair of her ankle boots worn will go on show at the National Portrait Gallery on Monday.Celebrating Charlotte Bronte 1816-1855 is being held to mark the 200th anniversary of the author’s birth and features 26 items loaned from the Bronte Parsonage Museum in Haworth. As well as portraits from the gallery’s collection (including the only painted portrait of Charlotte), the display will also feature first editions of her novel Jane Eyre and Elizabeth Gaskell’s biography, Life of Charlotte Bronte, as well as chalk drawings George Richmond made of both women. The exhibition, which is free to enter, is in Room 24 and runs until 14th August. For more, see www.npg.org.uk. PICTURE: National Portrait Gallery, London.

• Find out what the buzz is all about in London this week when The Royal Park’s A Right Royal Buzz exhibition is held across three venues – Duck Island Cottage in St James’s Park, The National Gallery and the Mall Galleries. The community arts project features art created in a series of workshops under the guidance of artist Alex Hirtzel – all in a bid to teach the public about the importance of pollination. The installations a blacked out box in the Mall Galleries where you can discover how bees see, a room of 3D flowers at the National Gallery inspired by Van Gogh’s Sunflowers and Jan Van Huysum’s Flowers in a Terracotta Vase, and a four foot high beehive and bug hotel made of ceramic tiles on Duck Island in St James’s Park. For more on the project – which can only be seen until 20th February – see www.royalparks.org.uk/arightroyalbuzz.

• A recreation of Claes Jansz Visscher’s iconic 1616 engraving of London goes on show in the Guildhall Art Gallery from Saturday as part of commemorations of the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death. Artist Robin Reynolds has recreated the work and depicts London, reaching from Whitehall to St Katharine’s Dock, on four large plates. In recognition of the Shakespearean commemoration, the new drawing also features references to the Bard’s 37 plays, three major poetic works and sonnets. Visscher Redrawn: 1616-2016 can be seen until 20th November and is part of a full program of events being held as part of the commemoration (including the Shakespeare Son et Lumiére show in Guildhall Yard on 4th and 5th March). For more, see www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/visscher and www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/shakespeare400.

• The first major presentation of the art of Eugene Delacroix to be held in the UK in more than 50 years has opened at the National Gallery’s Sainsbury Wing.Delacroix and the Rise of Modern Art celebrates the career and legacy of the artist, arguably the most famous and controversial French painter of the late 19th century and one of the first “modern masters” yet whose name today is overshadowed by those of many of his contemporaries. The display features more than 60 works borrowed from 30 public and private collections around the world with highlights including Delacroix’s Self Portrait (about 1837), The Convulsionists of Tangiers (1838), and Bathers (1854) as well as works by other artists which pay tribute to the impact he had: among them, Bazille’s La Toilette, Van Gogh’s Pieta and Cezanne’s Battle of Love. Organised by the National Gallery in conjunction with the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the exhibition runs until 22nd May. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.nationalgallery.org.uk.